The Memphis appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1886-1890, 1887-06-22

The name OF Shakespeare 10 the
greatest in our literature II is the
greatest in all literature. No man
ever came near him in the creative
powers OF his mind. No man had
ever such strength at once and such
variety Of imagip alton. Colelidge has
most felicitously applied TO him q
Greek epithet given before to l know
not whom-certainly none so deserv.
ing ofit-the thousond soult 1.-THE my.
Rad minded), Shakespeare. The num-
Der OF characters in his plays lie aston
iehingly gre at, without reckoning those
who, although transient. have often
their individuality all distinct-All
types OF human life in well defined
differences. Compare with Homer,
the tragedians OF Greece, the poets Of
Italy, Plutus, Cervante5, Moliere,
Addison, LeSage, Fielding, Richard.
con, Scott, the romancers Of the older
or la,er schools one man has far more
than surpassed them all. Others may
have been rs sublime, others mar
have been more pathetic, others may
have equaled him in grace and purity
OF language, and have summed some
OF his faults, hut the philosophy OF
Shakespsa are, his intimate searching
ont OF the human heart. whether in
the guomic form OF sentence or in the
dramatic exhibition Of character, Is q
grand peculiarly OF bis own"
William J. Rofe, who edited very
valuable school edition OF Shake
epeare, in recent lecture in Boston,
makes difference between his earlier
productions and those that were the
r,pyned products cf his genius after
he Was reconciled 10 his wife and
adapted himself to the swt etness and
comfort oil his home at Avor, after
he had given mp the tEeatsr and had
been restored to the ELECTION and So
ciety OF Ann Hathaway ard his chill.
dren. "The spirit Of tne later plays
of Shakespeare" he faye, "ars liks
sunlight after Darkness" and the SON
nets also tend 10 prove that tho bard
had repented of all his aims and
Atoned or them" His purchase and
restoration OF New Place would tend
to prove THE. He WAS happy in his
home. His love OF his wife is r, h3cted
In his treatment of women--in the
inimitable characters that one Of the
graduates hes treated Of. Role says
His treatment Of women has done
moie for the elevation Of Anglo-Saxon
women than al tie more pronounced
retormers and preachers put together.
He was In everything he touched or
eatd real ard substantial. He alb.
horred shsms aud or ,ificislities, and 1t
delighted him TO prick pomposity and
pretense. Rolfe sgain notes that
sin one Of the last Of his sonnets
rebuke occurs 10 those who
do NOT marry, which by Its wording
goes TO prove that no considered mar.
rled life, his own included, as perfect
harmony" Shakespeare marriage
with the placid and apparently COM
monplace "Ann Hathaway, and che
was several years older than him. elf TO
boot, seem at FIRST sight as unsuitable
as that OF BurGs with his 'Bonny
JEAN, says writer In Blackwood's.
"Ann was 'sonsy, 40 We should say in
Scotland, and good natured, and the
union was tar kom an unhappy one
for the poet, as IL was probably very
fortunate match for. pOuerity. Had
he been caught by some rustic siren
who could have made Cdges as well as
nets, he might never have come to
trouble with his Justice Shallow, and
he might have realized decent COM
potency in the Stanford wool trade.
Az it was, he had broken bounds for a
time before his genius rose soaring
into the Infinite, But few men have
apparently been more Indifferent to
fame, although 1t 10 conceivable that
the seeming Indifference may have
been horn OF serene self assur-
ance. Certain 1t 10 that he scarce
ly gave second thought to the
offsprings OF his brain, when they
had rapidly taken shape under his
flying fingers he left the capital when
IN The flush OF his fame 30 come back
contentedly e. comparative obscurity
in Stafford. And II his wifs had some.
thing to forgive she forgave II very
freely, aud, we have no doubt, made
him exceedingly comfortable in his
maturity" William Hewitt has read
In the "Sonnetts" a very pretty and
poetical story Of Shakespeare's wet in.
time and eoDjugal relations, How
far 1t may be faRciful," he
sayr, I'VE cannot say; but we
are inclined TO think there must
have been much more in Ann Hatha-
way than most OF her husbands bio
q, apherJ have belivej. 1t Is unlikely
on the face OF IL that Shakespeare
should have married q woman whose
soul did not ring respOnsivelg to some
OF the fiuer chords OF his own. We
suspect that ia her freeh bosom and
simple modesty, as in the sweetness
Of the homely fragrance hhe diffused,
she resemtled tome Of thoss old fash.
ioDed garden flowers the dreamer Of
" Midsummer Nights Dream loved
20 dearly" And II Ii were 20, the hap.
piest evenings of his life may have
been those he passed with Ann at
Shoitery. Shakespeare was born for
the drama. Rnlfe believes he saw plays
enacted by strolling companies before
he was five years OF age, and Mr.. Hal.
lowell Phillips, critic who unites in
himself two names linked to that Of
Shakespeare by rare scholarship and
devotion, has recently discovered that
d amatic entertainments we're prevs-
lent during Shakespeare's youth to
such q degree as would naturally de-
velop his dramatic genius. Sir Thomas
Lucy Is commonly thought to have
been only an unoonsci us patron OF
the drama, and that through his driv-
ing Shakespeare as asuspected poscher
to take refuge in London he forced
upon him eternal fame. But, Os Mr..
Phillips has shown, he had been
patron OF q body OF Itinerant actors
who went by the name OF "Sir Thomas
Lucy's players" bsfore Shakespeare
was twenty years cd. Perhaps 1t was
with this company he learned the arts
OF the stage aud studied the tastes and
weight OF judgment of all sorts Of
men. Perhaps lie learned with them
how much was to be done to break up
the stilted artificialty Of the stage and
make 1t as Ia ural as he dictates
through Hamlet 10 the players ITO
suit the action to the word" The
great actor, Henry Irving, in a recent
lecture delivered before the dons OF
Oxford University, told the story OF